Catholic Charities Says Boy Who Died Had Shown No Signs Of Abuse

Child Welfare Worker Examined 5-year-old After Several Tries

December 17, 1996|By Sue Ellen Christian, Tribune Staff Writer.

Officials Monday defended a child-welfare worker in the case of a 5-year-old Northwest Side boy who was reported as an abuse victim more than a month before he died, allegedly at the hands of his mother's boyfriend.

Thirteen days passed between when the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services received a phone call alleging abuse to 5-year-old Arturo Barrera and his 6-year-old sister and when a worker for Catholic Charities found the children and concluded they had not been abused.

But the worker was outside the children's home, in the 3100 block of West Cullom Avenue, within two hours of the state receiving the Nov. 11 call on its child-abuse hot line, said Catholic Charities spokesman William Sullivan. The worker couldn't get into the home because no one opened the door, Sullivan said.

The worker kept trying to find the family, and on Nov. 24 succeeded, according to Sullivan. But after examining Arturo and his sister, the worker found no substantiation of the abuse charge, Sullivan said.

Sunday, Arturo died from injuries he allegedly received when his mother's boyfriend, Felix Caban Jr., threw him to the floor because the child made too much noise during a Bulls game on TV.

Charges against Caban were expected to be upgraded to murder from aggravated battery to a child. Caban, 26, is being held without bond.

A Monday bond hearing for Caban was postponed so he could undergo psychological evaluation at Cermak Hospital. Caban was extremely despondent upon hearing that Arturo had died, a spokesman for Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan said.

A Monday autopsy of the boy concluded his death was a homicide caused by a skull fracture and bleeding within the skull, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Bruises on the boy's chest and abdomen appeared to be recent.

The only sign of longer-term abuse was a broken rib that was at least a week old. Tissue tests will be conducted to determine when the fracture occurred.

Along with disrobing Arturo and his sister to check for abuse and interviewing them Nov. 24, the Catholic Charities investigator talked to their mother and to Caban, Sullivan said.

The next day, at the suggestion of the children's mother, the children went to their pediatrician, who also found no signs of abuse, Sullivan said. The doctor found that a blood clot in Arturo's eye could have been caused by a fall, the explanation given by the boy's mother, Sullivan said.

The investigator also interviewed the person who called the DCFS hot line, but the caller had third-hand reports of abuse, and the other parties refused to get involved, Sullivan said. The investigator closed the case Nov. 26.